Real Estate: FCT Loses 800bn Annually, Says House Committee

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The preliminary investigative report conducted by the House of Representatives ad-hoc Committee investigating the operations and activities of Real Estate Developers in Abuja, has showed that Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) loses N800 billion annually in revenues.

Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Blessing Onuh, who disclosed this in Abuja at the opening of a two-day workshop on the operations of real estate developers in the FCT, said in the short time the lawmakers had carried out its mandate, they found out that the level of impunity by developers across the sector is unprecedented.

She said this is obviously not possible without the collaboration of corrupt public officers.

“Take for example, a house or land is sold for N500 million, the lawyer gets his legal fees, the agent gets his brokerage fee, the bank gets its transaction charges and the government gets nothing if the transaction is not presented for registration. And this kind of transactions go on in volumes everyday unregulated, leaving the government with the perennial struggles of meeting up its responsibility of providing a decent welfare for its staff and providing modern amenities to its people. Many of these transactions are done in cash making the industry a safe haven for money laundering and illicit financial flows.

“The committee in different oversight inspections noted with great concern many estates at different levels of completion, some 100 percent completed and occupied but developed without building approvals or without proper titles. We noticed some estates developed on green areas and lands reserved for public institutions like schools.”

Some developers invade plots without documents demarcate and sell to unsuspecting members of the public and display a high sense of impunity emboldened by the belief that they are friends of the authority and nothing can happen to them,” Onuh said.

She said the committee also hopes to discuss the consumer protection laws as it relates to the real estate industry.

She assured the committee would stop at nothing to check the nefarious activities of estate developers in the FCT and the country.

In his keynote address, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Wase, lauded the committee for its effort, saying corruption is a monster that must be tackled to address unwholesome practices by real estate developers.

He urged the Ad-hoc committee not to compromise on its mandate and do its best to ensure that no Nigerian is taken for granted or short-changed in the shortest possible time.

He also urged developers who are involved in such unwholesome practices to desist.

On his part, FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, said access to decent accommodation is considered a fundamental human right and the government is committed to this.

He said the FCT introduced a mass housing scheme to be driven by the private sector after it became apparent that government alone could not possibly meet the needs of the citizenry.

While noting that this policy enabled many to own decent accommodation, he however said it also came with its own challenges.

He opined that private sector involvement is the best way to provide housing for the people.

“I still want to reiterate that the way to is through the private sector involvement in partnership with the public sector under strong regulation. I believe working together with the committee and recommendations you are going to proffer, it is still not too late to recover lost ground. We have no option but to work together under the right laws and regulations. Despite all this, PPP is still the most viable option available to us in meeting housing, but under strict regulations that would protect the estate investor, government and off-takers as well as those financing the projects along the entire value chain,” he said.